not2old

from the UKVI website page for 'Residence card'

Other ways you may be eligible

Surinder Singh cases

You may be able to apply for a residence card as a ‘Surinder Singh’ case.

To be eligible, you must be a citizen of a country outside the EEA and:

the married partner, civil partner or child of a UK citizen have lived with them in another EEA country where they worked or were self-employed before returning to the UK be able to show that your UK sponsor based their ‘centre of life’ in the EEA country in which you both were resident before returning to the UK

You can prove your UK sponsor genuinely moved to another EEA country with:

proof of their address, how long they lived there and any other related information - eg if they bought a house proof of their integration in the EEA country where they lived - eg whether they speak the language, have any children born there or were involved with the local community

Karen2287

Thanks guys.

Does Republic of Ireland come into the EU or is it just Ireland?

Also if I started earning 18,600, how long does it have to be before I can apply for the spouse visa?

not2old

Northern Ireland is still the UK

there is a thread on here that AngelaV started - she went through the Republic of Ireland a year or so ago doing Surinder Singh

http://britishexpats.com/forum/citiz...so-far-804420/

read the instructions provided in the link, I believe its 6 months

If you are sponsoring him from the UK you must be earning at least £18,600 for six months before you can sponsor a spouse. If you have been living abroad and are returning to the UK you need a guaranteed job offer from a UK employer with a start date within three months of your arrival if he is to accompany you.

1. In either case the job must pay £18,600 gross as a minimum.

2. Third party sponsorship is not allowed.

SanDiegogirl

You have to be in a new job for a minimum of 6 months before applying for spouse visa.

How about taking a second job to reach the minimum and/or savings to make up the shortfall.

Read the document link I gave you. It has all the options for reaching the financial requirements.

Karen2287

Thanks. Can we actually make up the remaining money through savings?
Do you know what's the amount of savings you need?

HKG3

Karen2287

Please see link below re financial requirement -

https://www.gov.uk/government/upload...equirement.pdf

For the 'pure' saving route - you will need £62,500, but you can also have a mixture of savings and wages. Please see above for details.

SanDiegogirl

All this information is in the document I sent you. Please read it.

The amount of savings depends on what you earn. There is a formula to arrive at how much you need.

Basically you have to have 16,000 GBP + whatever the formula comes up with.

Karen2287

Thanks guy. I did the document but I like to verify things for clarity purposes.

The problem with my fiancé and I is that we are getting married next month. We were under the impression (from a friend of ours that is a Romanian national living in the uk, married to an Indian national living in the uk) that we can go through the EEA2 route.

So I'm kind of bummed out that that is not the case. Not sure what to do really...

not2old

A Romanian or anyone from another EU country can bring their non EU spouse to the UK, exercising their treaty rights.

She wouldn't be able to take him directly to Romania, she'd need 3 + months in another EU country, then go back to Romania with him

Think of it just like you taking your husband to Ireland then to the UK

SanDiegogirl

Your friend was completely wrong. You only have two choices if you want to live in the UK:

Get married, you return to the UK, find a better job and/or use savings to make up shortfall of current job and then apply for spouse visa for husband. The spouse visa takes approx 2 to three months to be processed if your application is straightforward.

Make plans to live and work in another country and then apply for EEA family permit upon returning to UK.

The EEA2 permit is for family members of EU citizens who are already exercising their EU rights in the UK. You are not an EU person exercising your rights in the UK - your friend is.

not2old

in the financial requirements link, read page 45 onwards section 7, especially the chart on page 47

https://www.gov.uk/government/upload...equirement.pdf

£33,000 savings, you only need to earn £11,800 which is basically minimum wage

Forego a big expensive wedding & use the cash towards savings to lower the earnings requirement

Karen2287

Because US citizens are allowed to stay in the UK for 6months without a visa (please correct me if I'm wrong). I'll continue to look for a full time position and my "husband" can return back with me after the wedding, stay for 6 months then we apply for the spouse visa.

Does he need to go back to the states in order for me to apply for spouse visa?

mikelincs

Yes, the spouse visa must be applied from outside the UK, and please remember that if you do both come to the UK once married, it is always possible that he might not be allowed in because the immigration people might think he would not leave after the visit. That has happened to at least one forum member who is now going the SS route.

SanDiegogirl

You have already been told that the spouse visa must be applied for outside of the UK. Your husband will need to return to the US to do so.

Anyone trying to enter the UK for 6 months with a new UK wife will be questioned as to their intention to leave at the end of the visit. Someone intending to stay in the UK for that length of time obviously does not have ties to the US - a big red flag to the authorities.

not2old

Agree with Mike post 28 & if he does come to the UK & tries to overstay his welcome, then all is lost.

you say you would try to meet the financials through getting a better paying job

Read section 5 of the financial requirements again, because there is the 6 month rule for earnings. Also the examples given

The SS route is so much easier